With government services going online, there was a 20% drop in the number of officials caught taking bribes compared to 2015, anti-corruption bureau data show

Revenue officials topped the anti-corruption bureau’s (ACB) list of bribe-taking government officials, followed closely by the police department.

The ACB’s list is based on trap cases — when government officials are arrested while accepting a bribe, or when officials get a citizen to accept it for them.

The anti-corruption body’s statistics until September this year show 178 such cases were filed against officials from the revenue department, followed by the home department and police (163), the panchayat (80), Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (44 ), education department officials (43), municipal corporation (36), and health officials (24).

“These departments deal the most with the public, which is why we see more cases from them,” said an official.

Mumbai, however, recorded the least cases against officials, at 51. Pune recorded the most, at 143. Nashik (110), Nagpur (107), Aurangabad (100), Nanded (85, Amravati (85) and Thane (89) also recorded a significant number of cases. Across the state, 752 trap cases were registered this year; 8 cases of disproportionate assets and 10 cases of criminal misconduct were also filed.

But the numbers also show fewer government officials were caught taking bribes this year — a 20% drop compared to last year’s 943 cases during the same period.

“With technological making its way into government offices, corruption is falling. Human intervention has been lowered owing to the several online services,” said Praveen Dixit, former director general of police, Maharashtra. “Measures such as installing CCTV cameras at government departments should also be taken.”

The ACB said they have released a mobile phone application, available at acbmaharashtra.net, for people to register cases.